Kwok (pictured left), a native of Hong Kong, has spent the past eight years working in Guernsey’s trust and corporate services industry, most recently with Equiom, the global trust business provider, which has a Guernsey office. Her work with Equiom brought her into contact with Channel Islands structures, including those in Jersey, according to a Guernsey Finance statement announcing her appointment. Kwok’s credentials include Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners qualifications.

As reported, Guernsey opened its Hong Kong office at the end of 2016, in association with the island’s regulator, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. It has said that the Hong Kong outpost has supported the development of the agency’s ongoing work in China, which began more than 10 years ago.

Kate Clouston, deputy chief executive of Guernsey Finance, said the GFSC had received “more than 100 technical inquiries across all sectors over the past 15 months” and that the organisation continues “to look for opportunities coming directly from the Chinese mainland”, through Hong Kong’s role as China’s “gateway”.

Clouston is scheduled to lead Guernsey industry delegations to Hong Kong and China in April, September and November of this year, Guernsey Finance said.

Investec Asset Management

Investec Asset Management, an independently managed subsidiary of the London- and Johannesburg-listed Investec Group, has announced a number of appointments to its New York-based North American operations, as it grows its presence in that market.

Elias Erickson has been named to a portfolio manager on the company’s “Investec Quality Team” in New York, which is co-headed by Clyde Rossouw and Simon Brazier. Erickson joins from Thornburg Investment Management, where he was associate portfolio manager of its Thornburg Global Opportunities Fund, and also a managing director. Prior to this, he held positions at Dodge & Cox Funds and Lehman Brothers/Barclays Capital, Investec said in a statement announcing his appointment.

On joining, and subject to regulatory approval, Erickson will manage a portfolio of international equities, in line with the operation’s investment strategy, it added.

Also at Investec AM, Loc Vukhac and Matt Hagbom have been named senior business development directors on the company’s existing institutional team, alongside Katherine Tweedie, who recently was named to lead Investec’s business development in Canada, as country head.

Tweedie moved to the role in September from Investec’s London operations, where she has been for more than five years, and where she founded the Investec Investment Institute in 2012. She began her career in investment banking and private equity in Toronto, with BMO Nesbitt Burns and CIBC Capital Markets.

In her new role, Tweedie’s focus will be on developing Investec’s long-term relationships and strategic partnerships with Canadian institutional investors, according to Investec.

As for Vukhac and Hagbom, meanwhile, they will add to Investec’s client engagement capabilities across the region, Investec noted, and represent “strategic hires” as Investec prepares to deliver on its stated commitment to build “a third major global hub delivering asset management services tailored specifically to the needs of US clients”.

Vukhac, whose specific role will be regional director in charge of Investec AM’s engagement with institutional investors in the North Eastern US, comes to Investec from Blackrock, where he held “senior roles in the US asset manager’s institutional client business as well as its iShares operation, and reports to Investec North America managing director Philip Anker.

Hagbom, who will be regional director in charge of the Midwest region, comes to Investec from Mercer Investments, where he had been a principal field consultant with its investment consulting division for more than a decade.

Anker said the appointments, along with “further hires to be announced soon”, would enable Investec to better deliver on its commitment to its clients “across North America”, including, for the first time, a “dedicated Canadian team”.

Investec Asset Management is an independently managed subsidiary of Investec Group, which in addition to being listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges is also headquartered in both London and South Africa.

The asset management arm of Investec was founded in 1991, and at the end of December was looking after more than US$141bn on behalf of third party clients.

Chubb

Chubb, the Zurich-based insurer which is said to be the world’s largest publicly-traded property and casualty company, said it has named Scott Simpson country president for its general insurance business in Singapore.

Simpson succeeds Adam Clifford who, as the company previously announced, is set to become the company’s division president for Continental Europe.

As the new country president, Simpson will have overall responsibility for the growth and financial results of the operations in Singapore across all lines of business, including property and casualty, accident and health and personal lines, Chubb said.

He comes to Chubb’s Singapore offices from Australia, where he has been head of state distribution for the company, leading its National Underwriting Centre, Independent Broker Unit and Global Broker Unit underwriting teams. He first joined Chubb in 2005 as a commercial lines underwriter in Sydney, and since then, has held “numerous leadership roles”, the company said, in announcing his appointment.

In his new role, Simpson will report to Paul McNamee, regional president for Chubb in Asia Pacific.

Chubb currently has operations in 54 countries, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.